OFA announces domestic schedule dates for 2018-2019 season

MUSCAT, May 27 – The Oman Football Association (OFA) unveiled the domestic schedule for the new season of 2018/2019 for the first time before the end of the current season. In a press meet held at the Seeb Sport Stadium, all the details of the scheduling were revealed by Hisham al Adwani, executive director of Omantel League, Khalifa al Hasani, director of competitions and Yasser al Rawahi, director of licenses. Two registration sessions will be allotted for all clubs to approve their list of players. The first registration session will be during July 1 to September 22 while the second registration session will be from December 27 to January 23, 2019.
“The Super Cup match between Al Nasr (HM Cup champion) and Al Suwaiq (league champion) will kick off on August 10 while the top domestic tournament Omantel League will begin on August 17, 2018 and conclude on May 10, 2019.
The HM Cup competitions will commence on September 10, 2018 and finish by April 25 while OFA Cup to be held during December 8 to January 18, 2019,” Hisham al Adwani executive director of Omantel league, said.
“The duration of OFA Cup (Mazda Cup) is set during Oman national team’s preparation and participation at the Asian Cup in the UAE. This will allow the clubs to take the benefit of time during this period,” Al Adwani added.
Al Adwani also revealed the dates of the various other domestic tournaments. The First division league will commence on August 25, 2018 to March 22, 2019 while the second division league will take place from August 28. The Juniors leagues dates are confirmed, U-16 league to start on August 30 while U-18 will commence on August 31. On September 1, the U-21 league will kick off.
As many as ten stadiums will host the tournaments.
Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Seeb Stadium, Al Buraimi Complex, Sur Complex, Al Saada Stadium, Salalah Complex, Khasab Complex, Sohar Complex and Nizwa Complex.
The new addition will be the Rustaq Complex for the second round of the league if the project is completed as per the planned time.
“The system will remain as it is for the first division league. All the clubs will be distributed into groups and three clubs will take qualification cards to Omantel league while two of them will drop to second division league,” Adwani concluded.
Khalif al Hasni, director of competitions, requested all the clubs to register through different channels which will be open in mentioned dates for registration. He hoped that the clubs will complete the registration formalities prior to the deadline.
Yasser al Rawahi, director of licenses, said that OFA in cooperation with clubs completed the process of evaluation criteria for licenses like: Sports, infrastructure, management and people, legal and finance while is still under progress.